Nosler Longrange Accubond

[liljamt]

I am not so sure I should weigh in here, but I am compelled to.

I am always a little shocked when I hear people complain that an animal went 100 yards after a good lung shot. Bullets are not lightning bolts that make things dead just because they touched them. It has always been my expectation to have to track a shot animal after the shot. Regardless of the bullet used. Make the shot, don't assume anything, wait for bit to make sure the animal is dead before heading out for recovery. Give it ten minutes or so. Every one thinks DRT is the standard for a bullet impact. This only happens if you hit the central nervous system. When you blow up the heart or lungs of an animal they have roughly 5 to 10 seconds to live. How far do you think a game animal can run in 5 seconds at full speed? I have found animals that other people shot with perfect lung shots. They didn't bother looking for the animal because it did not fall on the shot. There is no such thing as knock down power. This is a lie created by Hollywood. It is not possible to knock an animal or any other target off its feet with a bullet.

Some times bullet holes do not bleed much. Bullets crush the flesh that they impact. Smashed flesh does not bleed like cut flesh. A responsible hunter learns to track with out a giant blood trail. If the trail goes dead then use a different technique. Grid the area north and south then east and west and find it. Sometimes you darn near step on the animal before you see it.

I will not say that giant holes blown in an animal is a bad thing, but it is not what I prefer. That is for each hunter to decide. None of the bullets are magic.

I am not throwing stones at anyone. I have had more than my share of things go wrong hunting. Mistakes happen. Bullets do fail. Strange things happen on impact sometimes. It is a great thing that we have many choices of bullet.

Animal lungs are not like human lungs. They do not collapse when a hole is poked in it. They still function on the undamaged part of the lung. The animal has to run out of blood before it dies. If only one lung is hit it could take quite a bit of time for a large animal to run out of blood. Remember the flesh is crushed not cut like a broad head from an arrow. Sometimes it takes longer for a bullet to kill than an arrow. It is just how it works.

Just remember that a man can run 100 yards in 10 seconds. How far do you think an elk can run in that time? DRT is not the norm, it is a bonus when it happens.

Thanks for your time guys,

Steve

I agree with your statement. In my original post, I wasn't looking for the bullet that had the most knock down power, I am looking for a bullet that can retain it's energy through a shoulder shot, and continue into the Heart and Lungs, and out the other shoulder at short range without blowing up on the first shoulder. (Or at least make it to the far shoulder)

 

[scfam]

phorwrath took the words out of my keyboard. Zero would be close then you have the best for either situation you encounter.

I doubt the LR AB's are going to do any better or worse penetration wise than a standard AB.

To that end I think we all overthink the bullet performance side of things too often. I've used just about every bullet out there on game at one point and bottom line is that if you put it in the vitals it will kill the animal. Remington CoreLok, Speer, Nosler AB, Nosler Partition, Nosler Ballistic Tip, Sierra GK, Sierra MK, Berger VLD Target, Berger VLD Hunting, Berger Hybrid Target, Berger Hybrid Hunting, Hornady SST, Hornady A-Max...and probably a few I've missed. But if I did my job they killed the animal....albeit all deer and antelope to this point.

Nailed it in my opinion. The ABLR is softer than the Accubond, so it will tend to retain much less weight when impacting game at the higher velocities. This is a tradeoff. The question becomes, does it kill elk at short to moderate ranges when it is travelling "too fast"? If half of the bullet explodes, doing massive damage to the shoulder, and the remaining 50% makes it into the heart/lung area, is the elk dead within 100 or so yards of the shot 97% of the time?" Is that a "failure" if a one-shot kill? My guess is we don't have perfect data on that, but it would be interesting for members to share their ABLR kill information at shorter range. Over time, we are going to better understand this, but the "failures" people are experiencing at shorter ranges are from basically cosmetic (the bullet doesn't look right when I dig it out of the very dead animal) to lost animals. It is important for us to get this information so we can make good decisions in bullet selection (which ultimately does matter, depending on the application and caliber). Like you, I've dug quite a variety of bullets out of incredibly dead animals, and a good bullet placement will work 98% of the time. I've also seen the results of dramatically mis-selected bullets that were beyond abysmal. I'm hoping the ABLR is shown to retain enough weight at super-fast velocities while doing what it is supposed to out at long range. I've had nothing but huge success with its big brother, the accubond. Time will tell...

 

[scfam]

I am not so sure I should weigh in here, but I am compelled to.

I am always a little shocked when I hear people complain that an animal went 100 yards after a good lung shot. Bullets are not lightning bolts that make things dead just because they touched them. It has always been my expectation to have to track a shot animal after the shot. Regardless of the bullet used. Make the shot, don't assume anything, wait for bit to make sure the animal is dead before heading out for recovery. Give it ten minutes or so. Every one thinks DRT is the standard for a bullet impact. This only happens if you hit the central nervous system. When you blow up the heart or lungs of an animal they have roughly 5 to 10 seconds to live. How far do you think a game animal can run in 5 seconds at full speed? I have found animals that other people shot with perfect lung shots. They didn't bother looking for the animal because it did not fall on the shot. There is no such thing as knock down power. This is a lie created by Hollywood. It is not possible to knock an animal or any other target off its feet with a bullet.

Some times bullet holes do not bleed much. Bullets crush the flesh that they impact. Smashed flesh does not bleed like cut flesh. A responsible hunter learns to track with out a giant blood trail. If the trail goes dead then use a different technique. Grid the area north and south then east and west and find it. Sometimes you darn near step on the animal before you see it.

I will not say that giant holes blown in an animal is a bad thing, but it is not what I prefer. That is for each hunter to decide. None of the bullets are magic.

I am not throwing stones at anyone. I have had more than my share of things go wrong hunting. Mistakes happen. Bullets do fail. Strange things happen on impact sometimes. It is a great thing that we have many choices of bullet.

Animal lungs are not like human lungs. They do not collapse when a hole is poked in it. They still function on the undamaged part of the lung. The animal has to run out of blood before it dies. If only one lung is hit it could take quite a bit of time for a large animal to run out of blood. Remember the flesh is crushed not cut like a broad head from an arrow. Sometimes it takes longer for a bullet to kill than an arrow. It is just how it works.

Just remember that a man can run 100 yards in 10 seconds. How far do you think an elk can run in that time? DRT is not the norm, it is a bonus when it happens.

Thanks for your time guys,

Steve

Thank you for this post. I think you provided a thoughtful and very useful comment. I've never found an Accubond that failed to expand, and most concerns about an ABLR is too much expansion. An expanding bullet that leaves a gaping exit wound after destroying a shoulder and resulting in a one-shot kill is success in my book.

 

[Buttermilk]

That's a pretty small Deer to expand a bonded bullet??

I've used bonded bullets on antelope and even smaller deer with no issues on expansion.
One deer was only 54 lb. That bonded bullet expanded and left a fist size exit hole.

 

[scfam]

I've used bonded bullets on antelope and even smaller deer with no issues on expansion.
One deer was only 54 lb. That bonded bullet expanded and left a fist size exit hole.

Yeah, I killed a real nice buck with an Accubond that exit his ribs and he went down 50 yards later, leaving a massive blood trail. My wife had an Accubond exit a muley at 300 yards from her 270 and it was down in about 20 yards. I've pulled a lot of them out of elk and mule deer off side shoulders and hide. I love these bullets. My first experience was with the Trophy Bonded Bearclaw, which provided some of the most "identical" mushrooms under a wide variety of impacts. I'm very keen to learn whether people are losing animals at short range due to bullet failure from ABLRs travelling "too fast". So far I'm hearing about lower weight retention and the remaining slug having peeled so much away as to appear to have low expansion, but not too many stories about losing animals with well placed shots from the ABLR at high velocities....

 

[Scot E]

I am not so sure I should weigh in here, but I am compelled to.

I am always a little shocked when I hear people complain that an animal went 100 yards after a good lung shot. Bullets are not lightning bolts that make things dead just because they touched them. It has always been my expectation to have to track a shot animal after the shot. Regardless of the bullet used. Make the shot, don't assume anything, wait for bit to make sure the animal is dead before heading out for recovery. Give it ten minutes or so. Every one thinks DRT is the standard for a bullet impact. This only happens if you hit the central nervous system. When you blow up the heart or lungs of an animal they have roughly 5 to 10 seconds to live. How far do you think a game animal can run in 5 seconds at full speed? I have found animals that other people shot with perfect lung shots. They didn't bother looking for the animal because it did not fall on the shot. There is no such thing as knock down power. This is a lie created by Hollywood. It is not possible to knock an animal or any other target off its feet with a bullet.

Some times bullet holes do not bleed much. Bullets crush the flesh that they impact. Smashed flesh does not bleed like cut flesh. A responsible hunter learns to track with out a giant blood trail. If the trail goes dead then use a different technique. Grid the area north and south then east and west and find it. Sometimes you darn near step on the animal before you see it.

I will not say that giant holes blown in an animal is a bad thing, but it is not what I prefer. That is for each hunter to decide. None of the bullets are magic.

I am not throwing stones at anyone. I have had more than my share of things go wrong hunting. Mistakes happen. Bullets do fail. Strange things happen on impact sometimes. It is a great thing that we have many choices of bullet.

Animal lungs are not like human lungs. They do not collapse when a hole is poked in it. They still function on the undamaged part of the lung. The animal has to run out of blood before it dies. If only one lung is hit it could take quite a bit of time for a large animal to run out of blood. Remember the flesh is crushed not cut like a broad head from an arrow. Sometimes it takes longer for a bullet to kill than an arrow. It is just how it works.

Just remember that a man can run 100 yards in 10 seconds. How far do you think an elk can run in that time? DRT is not the norm, it is a bonus when it happens.

Thanks for your time guys,

Steve

+1! Agree with everything you stated!

 

[Rich Coyle]

I was told my rifle's velocity is too high for the ABLR's. I bought some AB's and only have one animal about which to report.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I was told the same.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I was told my rifle's velocity is too high for the ABLR's. I bought some AB's and only have one animal about which to report.

Is there a maximum velocity? Muzzle or impact?

Steve

 

[Rich Coyle]

I don't know. With my son-in-law's 6.5mm wildcat I can drive the 140's at least 3,450. He killed a pronghorn at 175 yards last season with uneventful performance.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I don't know. With my son-in-law's 6.5mm wildcat I can drive the 140's at least 3,450. He killed a pronghorn at 175 yards last season with uneventful performance.

What is uneventful? I like dead and still edible. 3450 is pretty fast, that should have had your impact vel about 3300. Without running numbers.

Steve

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I don't know. With my son-in-law's 6.5mm wildcat I can drive the 140's at least 3,450. He killed a pronghorn at 175 yards last season with uneventful performance.

Kirby told me they don't like being pushed super fast said something along the line of accuracy diminishes the harder they are pushed. Structurally, who knows what the upper limit is for them